When the Mountains Move: Courage, Preparation, and the Communities FOCUS Stands With in Pakistan
Pakistan’s northern highlands are among the most disaster-prone places on earth. In Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral, earthquakes can split valley floors without warning, and monsoon rains can trigger landslides overnight. The region is also vulnerable to glacial lake outburst floods, known as GLOFs. These happen when a massive glacier sitting atop a mountain melts rapidly, sending […]
When Training Becomes Confidence: FOCUS Pakistan’s Legacy in Chitral
On the morning of July 2, 2025, a mini-truck lost control on the steep, narrow roads of Bumburate Valley in Chitral and plunged down a hillside. What could have become a tragedy instead became a testament to what years of emergency preparedness in a community can produce. Within minutes, FOCUS-trained Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) […]
From Seeds of Support to Shelter from the Storm: FOCUS’s Legacy in Afghanistan
For decades, FOCUS donors made a quiet but profound investment in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. Before the organizations could implement the life-saving infrastructure that exists in Badakhshan today, it was FOCUS donor support and volunteer participation that helped lay the groundwork, building the relationships, the community trust, and the institutional presence that […]
Water Returns to Boghev: Reconstructing an Irrigation Channel High in the Mountains of Tajikistan
Boghev village sits nearly 8,000 feet above sea level in a remote, mountainous region of Gorno Badakhshan in Tajikistan, an area often struck by landslides and rockfalls. In a place like this, water for farming does not come easily. In 2025, the village’s irrigation channel was rebuilt to make that water more dependable, an effort […]
Flash Floods in Afghanistan: A Unified AKDN Response
“We are often at risk of floods, but whenever we see the AKAH team, a new sense of hope is restored in us.” A female resident of Pul-e-Khumri in Baghlan Province. In early April 2026, heavy rainfall swept through northern and northeastern Afghanistan, sending flash floods tearing through communities in Baghlan, Badakhshan, Takhar, and surrounding […]
FOCUS Delivers Critical Aid – Türkiye & Syria
It’s been over a month since 6 February 2023, when a 7.8 earthquake struck Türkiye and Syria resulting in over 50,000 casualties and catastrophic damage to homes, buildings and infrastructure. The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) in Syria immediately activated its specialized search and rescue and response teams providing critical humanitarian aid, working closely with the United […]
FOCUS USA and AKAH Partnering to Respond to Devastating Flooding in Pakistan
In response to the flooding emergency in Pakistan, FOCUS’s partner AKAH,P has provided evacuation and shelter support, technical coordination services, and emergency relief supplies with funding support from Focus Humanitarian Assistance. Extreme temperatures in early July 2022 led to glacial melting, high river and stream levels, and flash flooding throughout Pakistan, intensified by heavy monsoon […]
International Women’s Day – Breaking Taboos: Women in Search & Rescue
On this International Women’s Day, we highlight three inspirational women of various generations who overcame societal pressures to help save lives within their communities. In 2000, Gul Noori was among the first women to respond to a call for volunteers in FOCUS’s inaugural Search & Rescue Team (SART), but she faced a number of social […]
Earthquake relief in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan
Afghanistan/Tajikistan/Pakistan, October 2015 – Following a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Central Asia in October 2015, Focus Humanitarian Assistance – in collaboration with the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and other partner agencies – provided relief efforts in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan to support affected communities. Immediately following the […]
FOCUS: Pakistan flood response
Pakistan, April 2016 – In April 2016, heavy rain and snow fall in Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral triggered a series of devastating avalanches, flash floods and landslides that damaged over 600 houses. FOCUS evacuated critical patients utilizing AKDN helicopters and provided tents, blankets and non-food aid to affected households. With support from AKDN agencies, water purification tablets […]
